System of delinting cotton-seed and recovering lint.



No. 821,257. EATEN'TED MAE 22, 1906.

W. A. EEGSDALE.4 SYSTEM 0E DELINTINE COTTON SEED AND EECOVEEING LINE;

u@ m E Ammm@ QMZ MMWW,@ QAM Nn APPLICATION FILED MAR.. 7, 1906.

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-wI'LIIIiIIvI Anson aAesnALs, or WASHINGTON, DISTRICT or COLUMBIA, AssIeNoa ro INrsaNArIoNAL COTTON 'sans DELINTING COMPANY, or wAsHINefroN, DIsrnIor or COLUMBIA, vA CORroIIArIoN or MAINE.

SYSEEWI OF DELINTING COTTNHSEED ND RECOVERNG LENT.

no. s21,25v.

Specification of' Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 190e.

Appiiamamea mail 7, noa seen No. 364.775.

Tol all whom, t may concern: K

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A DON RAGs- DALE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements -in Systems of Delinting Cotton-Seed and Recovering Lint, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the art of delinting cotton-seed, and has particularly in View an improved system of instrumentalities so arranged and operated as to provide a practical and ,valuable method of handling ginnedcotton-seed, whereby such seed will be thoroughly delintedv or cleaned of the adhering lint and the latter will be recovered in its entirety and at the same time graded into separate'and distinct commercial by-products.

In the first place, in the practical operation of cotton-seed-oil mills the preparation of the seed for the mills is a step in the process which is ofthe utmost importance, and the present invention contemplates a system of machinery and method of handling the ginned seed, whereby the latter will be thoroughly delinted and placed in the bestA possible condition for the oil-mill. In the second place, another feature of importance is the disposition of the lint removed from the ginned seed. In this' connection the resent invention aims to perfect a system wherein there may be eHectively employed the plan of arranging a linting Y mechanism between theginning and delinting mechanisms and utilizing a separator for short fiber and fiber ends in connection -with a delinting lmecharu'sml comprising means `for preparing the short fiber for an effective treatment byralreseparat or.

'l and distinct marketable products-to wit,

In theabove connection it is the purpose of the present invention not only to recover from the delinting process the long lint as a commercial commodity, but also to recover as a second by-product and commercial commodity the aforesaid short liber and lint ends which'have a well-recognized market value.

' Hence the improved system contemplated by the present Invention involves, first, the thought oflinting and delinting'cotton-seed, and, second, the important feature of recovering and grading the long fiber and shortv fiber, whereby the system produces three separate clean or delinted unhulled cotton-seed ready for the oil-mills and separate grades of lint, one of Which'is a high-grade product and the other of which is a low-grade product. This high-grade producty of lint is useful in spinning-mills for various purposes, while the low-grade product can be utilized in the manufacture of paper, battings, felt, and other articles.

The essential features of the system involved in carrying out the objects above indicated are necessarily susceptible to a wide range of modification in the specific construction of the machines making up that system without departing from the scope of the invention, but a preferred and practical embodiment of the system or process is illustrated in the drawing, in which the figure is i a general diagrammatic sectional view of a plant embodying the improved system forming the subject-matter of this application.

.In carrying out the present system a distinctive Jfeature thereof, as aboveexplained, resides in the provision of instrumentalities which separately recover and distribute the long fiber and the short fiber, which is removed from the seed as it comes from the gin. This is accomplished through the employment of what may be termed a short-fiber or delinter mechanism and a"longifiber or t linterH mechanism, cooperating with each other in the linting, delinting, and separating operations..

Any approved construction of short-fiber mechanism and long-ber mechanism may be employed in carrying out the system-claimed i herein so long as these `mechanisms perform in their proper lrelation the functions' ogntemplated by the present invention. However, there is shown in the figure of the drawing a construction and arrangement of mechamsms and parts which by actual experiment have been found to successfully and thoroughly accomplish theobject of the invention-viz. to deliver from the plant in condition for the market three separate by-products--to wit, thoroughly delintedor cleaned unhulled cotton-seed and cotton lint in two grades, one being a high-grade product of comparatively long fiber, the other being a low-grade product of short fiber ends.

Referring now to the illustrative drawing, suggesting one' of the preferableways of operating the plant or system, the number i IOO I 1o strumentalities in this system, a construction which has been demonstrated as very practical for this purpose is of the general type embodied in my companion applications filed October 18, 1905, Serial No. 283,357; filed 15 October 18, 1905, Serial No.l 283,358; filed November 17, 1905, Serial No. 287,812. This type of machine embodies in its general organization an outer case 2, an interior cylindrical scouring-shell '3, arranged within the zo case 1n spaced relationto its wall, and a rotary agitator 4, arranged for rotation within F the scouring-shell 3 and cooperating therei with. 'The outer case constitutes a suctionv chamber which completely envelops the 2'5 scouring-shell 3, and said case is formed with suction-hood portion 5, to which is con- I nec'ted one end cfa suction discharge-pipe 6, leading to the inlet 'of an exhaust or suction fan F, the latter constituting one of the es- .go sential instrumentalities or machines forming a part of the system or plant.

The scouring-shell 3 of the short-fiber mechanism is of la sectional construction and essentially consists of a series of parallel 3 5 abrasive rings 7, arranged side b side in regular spaced relation to leave t erebetween intervening annular discharge-slits 8, prefer-r ably of outwardly-flaring form and in cornmunication with the Working space within 4o4 the shell and also in communication with the suction-chamber surrounding such' shell. i gThis construction provides lan ample and free' .discharge entirely about the scouring-` 1 shell for the dust and trash, and particularly 45 fer. the short fiber and lint ends removed frometh'e hull. of the seed. Also the shortiber-Imechanism illustrated preferably ernbodies a hollow perforate air-drum 9 in' coml, -munication with the outer air and also carry- 5o ing a plurality of pressure-blades 10, coperatin with the abrasive surface of thering 7 and aving continuously saw-toothed edges.

This construction provides for feeely admiti ting an unlimited and full supply of air into 5 5 the scouring-shell from the center outward,

thus insuring a complete discharge ofv the short fiber and lint ends into the case land thence rinto the suction discharge-pipe 6.

The'short-fiber mechanism 1 is provided 6o at one end of its case with a seed-inlet 1.1 and at the opposite end with a seed-outlet 12, the

latter being in communication with a conveyer 13, which receives the delinted or cleaned seed and delivers the-saine to a seed 6 5 receptacle or bin lll.

'semer The long-fiber mechanism or linter (designated in its entirety by the number is arranged to deliver seed, denuded of its long fiber, to the seed-inlet 11 of the short-fiber mechanism. This long-liber mechanism acts upon the seed in the condition in which it comes from'thel gin G, (see drawing,) andsaid mechanism preferably consists of a sawcylinder 1.6, a discharging-brush 17, and a 'i condenser 18. The saw-cylinder 16 comprises a cylinder or gang of separating-saws .spaced in much closer relation than the saws of a gin, and, acting upon the seed as it comes from the gin, said saws serve to remove the long iiber or lint and permit the seed, with the closely-adhering short lint or fuzz, to be delivered by conveying means 19 to the inlet of the short-fiber mechanism. The brush -17 y operates against the saws at one side of the saw-cylinder, and the fan action of said. brush serves to'sweep the long lint from the saws and blow the saine through the lint-discharging lue19a onto the condenser 18, alongside.

of which is arranged a baling-core 20, coperating wlth the condenser 18 in the manner commonto condensing apparatus andserving to collect in a roll the long lint which con- 1 stitutes the high-grade ley-product ci the4 system claimed herein.

The action of theeXhaust-fan F serves to draw the short lint from the short-fiber mechanism and forces the same through a blastpipe 21 into the upperreceiving end of a separating device 22, specially designed for the collection of all of the short fiber and lint ends. These aratin device 22 consists oi an upright cy indrica body having a cylindricalA separating-drum 23 at its upper end and a downwardly-tapering delivery-cone The inlet 25 of the druni 23 connects with the blast-pipe 21 and is tangentially disposed, while the air-outlet 26 for said drum is pend.

ent centrally therein and iorrns a center guard about which the air and cotton swirls. This swirling action in the drum 23 throws the short iiber out to the wall of the drum2`3 and outside of the suction or blast of the air.-v This permits the air to rush inward to the outlet 26, while the freed lint will fall-by gravity through the delivery-cone 24 .onto the iioor or into the receptacle provided therefor. The short fiber or lint thus recovered constitutes the second grade of lint which heretofore has constituted a waste product of delinting sys-J such conditions the delinting-rnachines are required to operate upon cott- .-seed having thereon not only the closely-t he short fiber, but also a long ing from three to ve ei hths of an inch in length. A liber of this length in any construction ofdelinting mechanism is a serious obstacle to a proper delinting actior This long liber in the delinting operation invariably produces a roping, balling, and bunching of liber, which if not disposed of by some mechanical means invariably clogs the delintingmachine after a short running, causingaheat-l ing ol the seed and an imperfect delinting action. Consequently it has been the constant aim of cotton-seed experts to rovide delinting-machines with auxiliary evices to dispose of the` lint ropes, balls, and bunches caused by the long liber carried by the ginned seed into the delinting mechanism. Many mechanical devices have been evolved in delinting mechanisms for overcoming these difficulties; but the present invention rovides a su' stem wherein the linting action o a linter is utilized as the step immediately preceding the delinting action, whereby the lon liber referred to is Aeliminated from the de inting operation and is recovered as a second-grade product entirely'aside and independent from the ber product recovered from the delinting action. This in itself is an important feature commercially, for the reason that in such cotton-seed processes where the delinting mechanism operates directly upon ginned seed the two grades of liber are recovered as one product, the long liber being reduced to the low grade (commercially) of the short liber. Also in carryin out the present invention it has been foun by experiment that a complete and, proper recovery of the shorti liber product in condition for the market is .made possible by employing a preliminary combing or disintegrating o the short liber and trash before being blown to the separator. This is ell'ected in the present invention through a feature ol" the delinter-viz., that of the toothed blades 10, which rovide for combing the short liber and tras 1 as a separating ste preliminary to the main separating step t erefor.

I cla1m- A system of treating cotton seed and lint consisting of the following instrumentalities: a ginmng mechanism, a linting mechanism receivlng the cotton-seed product from the ginning mechanism, and comprising'means for removing from the seed a second-grade long liber and eliminating such liber from the succeeding delinting operation, a delinting mechanism receiving the linted -seed from the linting mechanism and comprising means for' moving from the seed the remaining short liber thereon, said mechanism also having means for disintegrating the short liber and trash as a step preliminary to the main separating ste drawing t e short liber from t mechanism, and a separator receiving the discharge from the suction appliance, and comtherefor, a suction alppliance for e delinting prising means for collecting from the blasta y third-grade short liber.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM ADRON RAGSDALE. 

